Ms. Adams' Classroom Newsletter

January 2016

Ms. Adams' Classroom Newsletter

January 2016

Happy New Year and Ways to Prepare Your 21st Century Learner!

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone enjoyed time with their families over the holiday. I wanted to begin 2016 with sharing an article on how to prepare the 21st century learner:

Today's young learner will grow up in world much different from the one our parents grew up in. Our interconnected and digital world demands a lot of our learners. Reading skill remains as important as ever, but other critical-thinking and problem-solving skills are equally as important.

What can families do to prepare 21st century learners? Here are five suggestions to get you started:

When visiting your local library, ask for help finding interesting and engaging information books. Include nonfiction texts in your stack each time you go to the library. Sharing information books with your young child helps foster a sense of learning from a very young age. After reading, ask your child "is there more that you're curious about? Let's find more books or look for news or videos online." View the videos before watching them with your child.

Share interesting vocabulary from the information books you're reading. Spend time on individual words, and also share your excitement about words specific to a particular subject of study. Discuss words that have multiple or complex meanings. Discuss those words and how they add to what the writer is saying.

Support your child's reading by encouraging him to work through books that may initially seem too difficult. Read and reread the books together, taking time to talk about the key details from the text. Ask "why" and "how" questions that encourage your child to analyze the text.

Use book illustrations, pictures, and graphics to help guide your discussions. Work together to identify what person, place, thing, or idea a picture or diagram shows. Learning to "read" graphics is a skill that will be used throughout a person's life.

Continue to write together. Get creative about setting a purpose for writing time. This may include writing book, movie or recipe reviews. Imagine the fun your child will have writing reviews for meals! As you write, encourage your child to use as many specific terms and vocabulary as possible.

Preparing today's learners for tomorrow's world is a journey filled with reading, writing, reflection, and evaluation. These five suggestions will set you off on the right path!

Important Dates to Remember

January 8th-Class and Group Picture Day

January 8th-Students will take a Cold Read Science/Reading Test. A cold read test is when students are given a passage/story that they have not viewed before. The concepts and vocabulary are familiar, but the passage/story is new to them. They will also be given questions to answer. They are able to use the passage/story to answer the questions.

January 12th-Math Test on Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

January 18th-No School (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

January 20th-End of Grading Period and last day to make AR Goal

January 21st and 22nd-No School-Teacher Workdays

January 28th-Report Cards and Reading Level Information will be sent home

January 31st-Belmont Central's 45th Anniversary Celebration-2pm

End of Grade Helpful Websites

Students will take the End of Grade Tests in May. Below are various websites that are very helpful.

Math Quizzes

Please continue to encourage your child to practice their facts each night. Below you will find the schedule of dates for future quizzes. We will have quizzes every Monday until the end of the year. Students grade their own quiz. They should be able to tell you their grade at the end of the day!

End of Grade Helpful Websites

Math Quizzes

Please continue to encourage your child to practice their facts each night. Below you will find the schedule of dates for future quizzes. We will have quizzes every Monday until the end of the year. Students grade their own quiz. They should be able to tell you their grade at the end of the day!

About Ms. Adams

This is my tenth year with Gaston County Schools, but my sixth year teaching 3rd grade. I graduated from Belmont Abbey College and I am currently working toward my National Board Certification. I enjoy spending time with family, swimming and reading. Teaching is my passion!